John Snow is A Girl

"Are we going to stare at each other for all eternity?" Olivia asked the man who called her into his 'study' and just started staring at her.

"Do you have somewhere to be?" Aegon asked her with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes." In fact she wants to go back to harvesting her spirit rice in her space. She has finally grown matured crops ready to harvest and just when she is about to pull up her sleeves and start harvesting, she was rudely interrupted by a messenger from the castle.

"I wish for you to heal someone for me. She is ill but no one can understand the nature of the illness." He gestured for her to follow him and she did.

Aegon wondered if she trusts him or herself to follow him so easily. When they reached one of the rooms and opened the door, a strong smell of medicine reached the new comers as soon as they entered.

Olivia knew what is wrong with the woman at first glance the child in her womb is surrounded by unclean energy from the woman. She didn't go anywhere near the woman but pointed at the unconscious woman.

"Her body is too weak to cater for another life. She should decide between being bedridden for the duration of the pregnancy or abort the fetus." Olivia said calmly. There is nothing else wrong with the woman except the weakness of her health.

Aegon looked at Olivia with a frown. "Is there no other way?"

"She is too weak. Maybe if she were in a peaceful environment where strengthening meals can be administered daily there would be hope but as it is she doesn't stand a chance."

"What if I move her to a peaceful location? Can she survive the move?"

"The only thing I can offer is a nourishing soup recipe that will allow the child to grow stronger over time the mother may also become stronger."

"Is this guaranteed?" He asked with a serious expression.

"I can not guarantee that if I am not the one taking care of her every day which I will not do." She moved to back to his study and wrote down the recipe. Aegon gave the recipe to the healer on his team and turned to Olivia.

"Can you take care of her?"

"No."

Ge took a threatening step forward. "What if I insist?"

"I will still say no. The recipe if ten gold coins, pay up." She extended her hand stunning the 'king' with the high price.

"That is too expensive."

"I know, now pay up."

Aegon felt a headache from this interaction. "Will she wakes up if he drinks the medical soup?"

"I don't know there is the matter of the last step I didn't write which you will only get if you pay me." Olivia smirked seeing his expression turn ugly. This is fun.

Aegon took out a small sack of gold and paid her in full. "What us the last step?"

"I was bluffing, just wanted you to pay my coins." Olivia laughed happily at his annoyed expression. Then she suddenly became serious and spoke "That women's bloodline is not simple. It is affecting her ability to grow a life in her body. Beyond the nourishment soup, there's little I can do for her if she insist on having the baby." She stood up to leave but Aegon stopped her.

"Have a drink with me." He poured her a glass full of sweet wine which made her wince after a single sip. She carefully put the cut down and smiled her best polite smile

"What's wrong? This is one of the best wines in Myr."

"I don't like sweet alcohol."

"Really? Many commoners would drink whatever the noble give them with gratitude."

"If I don't like sweet wine, it won't change just because you are someone with an old family name." She said calmly.

"You really are interesting. Who would argue with their better like that?"

"Is that what you are? My better?" She raised an eyebrow waiting for his answer but she only got dismissed instead.

"Molly, are you okay? They didn't make things difficult for you did they?" One of the maids who is responsible for her presence there pretended to care.

Olivia knows this woman was probably hoping something bad happens to her in the castle. This is because she doesn't want to pay for medical fees with a small portion of her vegetables after Olivia saved her brother.

Thinking about taking advantage of her kindness with moral kidnapping. Olivia had just move and took the vegetables directly and then banned her family from seeking medicine from her in the future.

"Not at all, he and I are buddies now."

"Buddies?"

"No time to explain. Bye." Olivia left smilingly when she heard the girl stomp her feet in anger.

Olivia as Molly is very good at solving medical problems but she is not polite at all even to nobles and strong people. This is why she was confident that Molly would pull the same stunt even here and probably het her head chopped off.

Olivia entered her house to find it smelling like delicious food. It turns out her house guest Finch is cooking for her again. Olivia must admit that it is a nice feeling coming home to find a tall man busying himself in the kitchen for her.

Finch is the man she rescued at that time now he is almost healed but the man has a large scar on his face that makes him look fierce making many people feel uncomfortable around him but Olivia is not affected by this.

Another thing is that he is slightly dumb. She speculates it is from a childhood trauma. What makes Olivia happy to have him around is that he is like a butler but with better physique.

Wide shoulders, broad chest and long legs. Most importantly he doesn't say much. The man can spend hours without clearing his throat.

She discovered many large scars all over his back and felt his life must have been hard. So when he asked to stay in her guest room she readily agreed. She is also curious who his mother was to have lived to this size without being discovered by the royals or their enemies.

But upon reflection she realized her thoughts are too complicated. That man was a whore especially in his youth. It isn't surprising fir him to father more bastards. Such good warrior genes wasted on menial work. This man should be a soldier and he could have been the best of them but it turned out he doesn't like following orders so he suffered greatly when in an army. As a result he quit every time.

180 centimeter tall, piercing blue eyes, raven black hair and that set of full lips. Olivia touched her hot neck realizing she is appreciating 'Barth' as a woman...what is going on?

....

"We have to respond in kind! We can not just defend like tortoise all the time." Enym said in the military side of the council.

The council chamber has now been updated to have s round table in the front, a second round table behind the first one where important personnel in each castle may seat and occasionally be permitted to speak.

The second table is larger because each castle master has several slots to assign seats for their trusted advisors. To day they are discussing the situation involving Iron Born attack of the kingdom.

Although they managed to defend the city, it may damage the kingdom's prestige to leave things as they are. On the right and left side of the empty seat of Olivia, Anna and Faith sat quietly listening to everyone arguing.

"What would the queen do if she were here?" Anna asked them.

"She would tell us to refer to our agreement with her. You are her councilmen, appointed to advise her when necessary but your main objective for existing is to govern the kingdom." Duke Amon said with a stoic expression.

"What does that suggest?" Seun asked his colleague.

"Your task is with in the kingdom. Ensure everyone and everything is running smoothly, people are fed, housed, empowered and educated. Your duty is restricted within the territory of the kingdom. You may establish a city or an organization but all with in the premises of the Flaming Snow kingdom." Faith explained to the council members in details.

They do have a lot of power and wealth but their main task is basically to manage the kingdom while the queen does whatever she wants. However...

"Are you leading to a point?" Vince asked sounding bored with all of this.

"The dukes are different from you. They can take their army and attack any territory outside the kingdom if they wish but it will still be the Dukedom under the Flaming snow kingdom." Anna explained to the council.

"The contract states that if the duke who initiates the attack is successful in occupying the foreign lands for the duration of six months, they may seek assistance from the kingdom to develop and retain control. At that point, it that territory will be under the protection of the kingdom." Caine said in conclusion.

"In other words, the iron Islands can only be taken by the 11 of you?" Milio, the master of the green castle having taken over the late master of medicine Dixon asked in amusement. It seems their master was more thorough than they thought.

"So what are we going to do?" Caine asked in excitement. He is seething in anger having been absent from the defense of the city because of his location which is far away from the harbor.

Those iron born rats are really presumptuous. To attack this place so blatantly even using sea creatures. He doesn't want to occupy that filthy place but wants wants to kill a few of them to calm his anger.

"We need a proper plan. Are we really interested in occupying that place? Attacked by storms all year round and not enough land for food. And most importantly, it is a gloomy place where men train from a young age to rape and plunder." Duke Gin commented on the side.

(In the flaming kingdom, Gin will not be referred to as duchess since she earned the title of duke through her efforts. When she marries that person will be referred to a the Duke consort)

"The islands have several iron ore mines that would be of great help for the several Dukedoms." Bree said offering some insight.

"Then we hold it for mining operations." Caine wants to encourage his fellow colleagues to cooperate with him to attack this place.

"I would like to see this Iron born raider kingdom for myself, playing duke for so log without any battle might make me weak." Perzyo said intending to be involved in this endeavor. 

"There is important information you might require, the siblings born from the previous king Balon Greyjoy have entered into an alliance with the dragon queen to take back their throne from their uncle Euron Greyjoy. It is anticipated you will go up against her if she comes back here while you are still mining the iron." Bree informed. 

"Then we move faster." Caine said with haste, he actually wanted to go this very moment. As a northerner, how can he not know the wickedness of the iron born raiders? He wishes to rid the world of this menace for good if he could. 

"That woman is really something else, she saved slaves but her army has the savage Dothraki screamers. Anyone feeling she is just looking for a free army?" Bellamy said in distaste. As a scholar, he is wired to question everything and everyone.

"Ignore the scholar but know that she will come for you with the full might of her unsullied, the Dothraki screamers and those dragons. Works fast." Bree advised. 

In the end four dukes participated in the attack their total numbers exceeding 30 thousand. 

"The next order of business is the prince." Gwen who has been silence this entire time spoke up surprising the others. 

"What is wrong with the prince?" Milio asked with concern in his voice, as a medical pioneer in the kingdom, he has been taking care of the prince's health with utmost care. He is aware of the prince's radical mood swings that are sometimes violent and sometimes sad to the point of depression but medically he is healthy. 

"He is very upset about his mother's absence from home, he won't eat or play with the other kids any more. If this continues his situation will worsen, we need to find the queen." Gwen said. 

The council members, dukes and the several advisers looked at each other in dismay. How to find someone who can go anywhere in the world? 

"I think I may be of help. give me four days and I will come to you with an answer." Bree volunteered. Olivia had told her where she was headed and if there is an emergency to contact her in person. 

"You know something mistress of whispers?" Milio asked with a smirk. It would be presumptuous to think she found her on her own, the queen is someone who can fly even without riding on her dragons. It is more believable to say she was told by the queen where to find her. 

"That is not something you should bother yourself with, instead you should be focusing on ensuring all the hospitals are fully staffed because if the queen finds you lacking, who knows what might become of you master of medicine?" Bree and Milio started bickering. 

"Grand duke, is there anything we can help with to make things easier for you in the imperial academy?" Seun as the renowned structural engineer may in fact offer a lot of insight but Olivia had instructed Amon to limit the influence her council members have in the new imperial school. 

"Thank you master Seun, I will surely bother you in the future should a need arise." Amon said politely but the rest heard it for what it is, a clear rejection. According to them, the grand duke is trying to be a sole influence on the academy which is unacceptable since the kingdom's brightest minds will be groomed here. 

Sensing the tension, Anna spoke with a sharp tone. "The imperial academy is the responsibility of the grand duke alone, if there is a need for assistance he is to ask from the royal family affairs which is a branch under the jurisdiction of Faith, Gwen and myself." She poke to everyone looking to take advantage of the queen's absence to increase their influence. 

"This is to ensure your children, those of noble blood and anyone child born from a family with any power in this kingdom doesn't have the influence to affect the operations of the school. The only thing that will reign supreme in that school is talent. That is the only way to gain advantages and hold power over others. This is the will of the queen." Anna spoke with an air of authority so even these men and women twice her age have no way of refuting. 

Bellamy as the main scholar of the kingdom is required to help the school with teaching plan but this is his duty as the servant of the imperial family but what Seun was suggesting was granting the grand duke a favor which can be repaid in many ways which may disrupt the setting of the school regulations. 

Their meeting was actually the council members looking to press the grand duke but Olivia had known something like this can happen and appointed a new body that will oversea the council member's conduct. Anna has always been a sharp person Olivia has faith in her skills to read between the lines and take appropriate action. 

A few days later Bree's agent reached Olivia and reported what is happening with Drogo so she decided to take Barth with her back home. Barth didn't object to leaving the dragon stone village because it is not his home any ways. Olivia was surprised by the happiness in his eyes when she made the proposal. 

In fact, Olivia wants to heal him because he is deaf on one ear which made him unable to hear on one side this is why they said he doesn't like taking orders. 

"You are leaving?" Aegon asked incredulous.

"Yes something came up, I need to go back immediately." It was curtesy to inform him in the first place. 

"But Aliyah..." He hesitated. 

"Will be fine as long as she doesn't refuse her medicine. That woman is a witch of sort so be very careful around her. Good luck Aegon." She gave a toothy grin. 

"Wait! Why were you really here to begin with?" 

"That doesn't concern you would be king. I'll be on my way now." She went around him but he grabbed her arm. 

"I think it does. You showed up here the same time I did as if you came for me, a person like you with no respect for authority and no need to carry favor. There must have been a reason you came here and stayed all this time." 

"I came to explore the forest and pluck many exotic herbs around here." She lied to his face. 

"You are lying." 

"True, but there's nothing you can do about it." 

"Were you sent by Olivia Snow? I heard she is my half sister." His expression turned into one of smugness when he saw her smile falter. 

...